


Slice of Monster Life

by CoreyWW



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comedy, Creepy, Curses, Dark Comedy, Gen, Ghosts, Giant Spiders, Going to Hell, Hell, Lovecraftian, Lovecraftian Monster(s), Magic, Monsters, Occult, Paranormal, Psychic Abilities, Skeletons, Spiders, Supernatural Elements, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Witch Curses, workcom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-07-29 02:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16254764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoreyWW/pseuds/CoreyWW
Summary: In a world where monsters, non-humans, and magic are known to exist to the point its a mundane fact, we peer into some of the lives of people in the town of Black Beach, a heavily non-human community:A normal human working in a phone store that curses devices so they can access Occult apps.A teenage vampire boy looking for a job along with his best friend, a werewolf, and his girl friend, the fish-girl daughter of an eldrich horror.A young friendly boy ostracized for being able to see ghosts constantly.A man cursed after a bad breakup with a witch and is followed by a skeleton.And many more ...





	1. Cursed Phone (Ethan, Bill)

**Author's Note:**

> This work is basically a reboot of an older work I did called [Nice Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14955063/chapters/34655055). It shares many of the same characters, but the tone was more serious while the intent of this is to be primarily a slice of life/workcom more than anything else (the workcom elements will become more evident later). You can check it out if you want, but it is not canon to this and I'm much happier with this version than the previous one.
> 
> This reboot was original posted as seperate pieces but I combined them all into one story after I decided I was going to make this A Thing.
> 
> A lot of this work and its prototype version was inspired by conversations I had a long time with my old friend [Endling](http://endling.tumblr.com/) and it takes inspiration from [this piece he did a long time ago](https://endling.deviantart.com/art/The-Hollow-Races-422384115). This is posted with his blessing and diverges quite a bit from that, but I still felt it was important to make sure he was cool with this first before posting.
> 
> If you enjoy this, please check out our [tumblr](https://slice-of-monster-life.tumblr.com/), where you can ask me questions, send prompts, etc.

Ethan went to the mall to have his phone cursed.

All of his friends at school had it done and could access Occult Apps so he felt like he had to. It seemed inadequate to be a vampire and not have a cursed phone at this point.

The store at the mall was called “Phone-E.” It was a normal enough phone store, with prepaid phones and accessories along the wall. Ethan approached the front desk. An older man (probably in his mid-to-late twenties) stood there with thick glasses, a patch of dark hair on his chin, and lazy eyelids. The nametag on his red polo read “Bill.”

“Hey,” said Bill as Ethan approached. His voice was monotone. “Need your phone fixed?”

“Um ...” Ethan cleared his throat and held out his phone. “A-actually I was hoping I could get it cursed. You guys do that right?”

Bill glanced at the phone.

“Oh ... okay,” he said. “It’ll be twelve dollars.”

“Sure.”

“Give me a few minutes.”

Bill took the phone from Ethan and walked through a door behind the desk.

Ethan tapped the counter, waiting.

* * *

It was pretty routine for Bill.

He brought the phone to the workbench, which was in the back. He removed the phone from the case.

Then he stood in the circle of eldritch script and held the phone up to the Spider, who was also in the back. Its countless milky eyes probing the device as its eight-foot-tall form loomed over Bill. It spread its dark hairy legs, the non-euclidean curved architecture of the back room bending to its will as it chittered, uttering strange rites in forgotten tongues.

When the Spider was done, the phone wafted with black miasma and pulsated, as if overflowing with alien consciousness. Bill lowered the phone.

“Thank you, sir,”

He went to the workbench, took a swig of the coffee from his thermos he kept underneath it, then put the case back in the case.

He walked out the back and handed the phone to the customer.

“Thanks!” the boy said.

Bill stood behind the register and pressed a few buttons.

“That’ll be twelve dollars.”


	2. Ghosts I've Seen by Ian Callahan (Ian)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first-grade paper turned in by Ian Callahan, age six, about ghosts he'd seen.
> 
> He did not get a good grade on it.

I’ve seen a lot of ghosts around town. Here are some of them.

  * Susan. Susan lives in my house with her baby (who is also a ghost). She’s my favorite. She talks to me and she’s nice. If I had a sister, I’d want her to be like Susan.  
  
I’m not sure if Susan is her name or not. I picked it and she liked it. She doesn’t remember much about herself. I wish I knew more about her.
  * The big dog by the graveyard. There’s this big dog with yellow hair and one eye who hangs out at the cemetery. I asked my dad what dogs with yellow hair are like and he said it was probably a labrador. He just waits in front of this grave and stares at it.  
  
I tried to throw a ball for him once, but he just looked at it, not chasing it. He still seems like a good dog though.
  * The little girl who plays in the street. She says her name is Karen. She’s blond and kinda cute. She’s playing with a big red ball. Whenever I walk by, she bounces her ball and asks her to come here and play.  
  
I always ask her to come out of the street and she just shakes her head and says “M-mnm, doesn’t work that way. You have to come here.”  
  
It’s always a really busy street she plays in.  
  
I don’t like her that much cause I’m pretty sure she’s trying to kill me and I don’t like that.
  * There’s this really nice boy in the river by the city. He didn’t know his name either, so I call him Petey cause he looks like a Petey. He has blond hair and looks really sweet.  
  
He kinda floats above the river. Sometimes on the way home I stop by. He asked one time why don’t I come swim and I told him I don’t know how.  
  
He kinda nodded and said, “Me neither.” Then we chased frogs. That was fun.
  * The nice old lady who feeds the ducks. Or I guess she’s thinking she’s feeding the ducks. She’s never holding any bread on account of her being dead. The ducks don’t seem to mind.  
  
She always says “Hi sweetie” when I walk by. She’s nice.  
  
I kinda don’t think she knows she’s dead? I’ve thought of telling her but I feel like that might make her want to stop “feeding” the ducks and that would make me sad.
  * My old pet hamster Ding-Dong. Mom said he ran away. I didn’t really believe her.
  * I haven’t seen this ghost, but there’s a really old house I walk by where I can just hear really loud screaming from. I didn’t know no one else could hear it till I started crying one time near it and told mom why and she told me to stop making up stories.  
  
It’s a bad house. I’m not going in there.
  * I see a lot of bugs. Like a _lot_ of bugs, all the time. It’s really annoying cause they look like alive bugs and I don’t like bugs. I don’t squish them anymore though cause then I feel bad. A lot of the dead ones like to crawl on alive people and it’s really distracting when I’m trying to listen to people talk.



That’s some of the ghosts I’ve seen. The End.

[There is a note on the top of the paper in red ink saying “SEE ME AFTER CLASS”]


	3. Mosquito Diet (Ethan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan tried to tell his grandma about a new vampire diet.
> 
> Based on a prompt from [realfakedoors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/realfakedoors/pseuds/realfakedoors): “Of all the Vampiric diet trends that swept the nation, the Mosquito Cleanse had to be the stupidest.”

“I’m not going to eat mosquitoes, _nepot_ ,” Ethan’s Grandma said, her Romanian accent thick with exasperation.

“No really, it’s great!” Ethan sat next to Grandma on the couch and pulled out his phone. He scrolled for the page on the Mosquito Diet. “See, it’s so much nicer than drinking blood, _mamaie_. A few of the guys are school told me about it. You just catch a bunch of mosquitoes--”

“No, _nepot_.”

“Mash ‘em all up with your hands--”

“No.”

“And then, you know, it’s like a jelly after that. You can spread it on bread or ... _bread_...”

“That is disgusting and unsafe!”

“ _But it’s humane!_ Well, not for the mosquitos, but--”

“You will drink blood like a normal vampire, _nepot_!”

Ethan scowled before raising his voice.

“ _YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ME_!” Ethan got up from the couch, flipped the coffee table over, then stormed out.

As he left, he just heard his Grandma sigh.


	4. Skeleton Ghost (Steve)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on a prompt by [deepwaterwritingprompts](http://deepwaterwritingprompts.tumblr.com/): "I started seeing things the day after we broke up. I should have believed her, about the curse."
> 
> "Steve woke up and the six-foot tall skeleton ghost was standing on his chest, looking down at him with glowing red eyes."

Steve woke up and the six-foot tall skeleton ghost was standing on his chest, looking down at him with glowing red eyes. His scuffed bones looked bulky and heavy enough for this to hurt, had he not been a ghost with no weight.

“Morning,” said the skeleton ghost. It had a voice that sounded like it was coming through radio static.

Steven ignored him. He sat upright, his head passing through the ghost. He got a chill down his spine like always, but didn’t let it show.

He got up and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

The skeleton didn’t move so much as it just appeared next to him when he glanced around, pulling down a coffee filter.

“You gonna put sugar in it?” the skeleton said.

Steven tried not to make eye contact as he poured coffee grounds into the coffee maker.

“I use artificial sweetener,” Steven almost mumbled. “It’s better for you.”

The skeleton laughed, its bones quietly rattling.

“Yeah,” it said. “Sure. That’ll stop it.”

Steve refused the acknowledge the skeleton as he finished making the coffee.

_God dammit Alice_ , he thought.

* * *

Steve drove to work in his Honda.

The skeleton didn’t sit in the passenger’s seat. It always sat on the hood of the car, staring at Steve through the windshield.

When it spoke, despite being outside the car, Steve always heard it clearly.

“Remember to use your blinker,” the skeleton said.

Steve looked past him, trying to focus on the road.

_God--_ God _dammit Alice_ , he thought.

* * *

“Hey Steve, you got those files?” Kathy said, leaning into his cubicle.

“Huh?” Steven turned away from the skeleton, who was sitting perched like a raven on the cubicle wall over his computer. “Oh um ... yeah.”

He picked up the file from the desk and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” Kathy smiled at him, drawing Steven’s eyes to her red lipstick. “Wanna go somewhere after work again?”

“Yeah.” Steve smiled back, his heart pounding. “Yeah, where’s a good place?”

Kathy brushed her curly hair back.

“Well I was thinking maybe--”

“Hey Steve,” the skeleton said while Steve tried to listen to Kathy. Steve clenched his fist, but tried not to look at it. Of course, since no one aside Steve could see or hear the skeleton, Kathy kept going. Steve tried to focus on her.

“That Italian place by the vampire store is pretty good but--”

“Hey Steve,” the skeleton said. “Not to be a buzzkill, but I thought I should let you know, she has cancer cells in her brain.”

_Just ignore it_ , Steve thought.

“Hey, don’t worry, it’s only a few. Maybe it won’t spread. At least not for a few decades _._ You know, _probably_.” The skeleton’s eyes seemed to flicker. “Hey, do you know the effects of brain cancer? You’re in front of a computer, Google it. Go on, do it.”

“You okay, Steve?” Kathy said. “You look a little pale.”

“Uh ...” Steven shook his head, tried to steady himself on his office chair. “No just ...” He rubbed his temple. “Just ... having an off day I guess.”

Kathy smiled and gently touched his shoulder.

“Try to cheer up,” she said. “I’ll see you after work.”

She gently dragged her fingers from his shoulder before she turned and walked away.

“She seems nice,” the skeleton said. “Tough break, that.”

Steve sighed and turned to the skeleton ghost.

“If I call Alice and apologize for how I broke up, will _that_ be enough to make you go away?” Steve said, exasperated.

“Probably not,” the skeleton said, shaking its head. “She was quite adamant when summoning me that you were quite the son-of-a-bitch.”

“So I’m just stuck with you till I die, is that it?”

“Oh, you’ll be stuck with me much longer than that, Steve.”

Steve winced. The skeleton’s red eyes flashed.

“You should probably just get back to work, buddy,” it said.

Steve wanted to have a good comeback, but ultimately, he just did as the skeleton suggested.


	5. Supply Closet (Bill)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "One morning at the phone store, Bill realized they were out of coffee, so he sighed and prepared to visit the Underworld to get to the supply closet."

One morning at the phone store, Bill realized they were out of coffee, so he sighed and prepared to visit the Underworld to get to the supply closet.

He laid out everything he might need: two coins (not US currency, but rather grey obols used by the ancient Greeks; Bill had to purchase many of these off eBay without reimbursement), a cheap gold-plated necklace from the We Buy Gold place next door, and his phone (Cursed and loaded with the Rideshare Occult App, of course).

_That should do it_ , Bill figured.

He put the coins and phone in his pocket. Just had to clear things with the boss. Bill turned from his workbench and looked to the Spider, its thousand eye gazing through reality itself. _Must be nice to be a manager and not have to do actual work_ , Bill thought.

“Yo, I’m gonna go get coffee,” Bill said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

A chitter erupted from the Spider’s maw, while feelings of approval invaded Bill’s mind. This was how the Spider said yes.

“Cool,” Bill said. “You want anything?”

There was a pause, then the Spider stood on two of its legs and raised itself. Its gaze pierced through Bill’s mind until he got a clear image in his mind of coffee, the warm, comforting scent of French Vanilla heavy in the air ...

Bill sighed. “Okay, yeah, I’ll see if they have French Vanilla ...”

Bill then got the clear image of coffee creamer.

“And the creamer,” Bill said.

The Spider gave a gentle chitter then lowered itself, going back to staring through the planes of existence or some shit, whatever it liked doing.

Bill opened the door in the back that read “Employee’s Only.”

He opened the door, seeing only stairs descending into a black void.

Bill began to walk down. Despite the phone store being on the ground level of the mall, the stairs went down and down, one flight after another. There were no railings, so Bill walked slowly. Too many co-workers had been lost because they tried to run down the stairs. Granted all of them were pretty crap anyway, but still ...

They really should get an elevator, but the Spider only insisted they were still “working on it.”

Bill wasn’t sure exactly how many flights of stairs he had to go down. When he was freshed faced and new, he’d tried counting. Every time he got a different number. Sometimes it was three flights, sometimes two dozen, sometimes a hundred, and sometimes it was only three steps.

This time felt closer to thirty flights. It sucked.

He finally made it to the bottom. All around him were rocks and crags as if he had entered an ancient cave in some forgotten mountain. He could hear distant splashes of water as he walked on the rock floor towards the river.

Standing where the water splashed against the rocks was the Ferryman, standing on an unsafe looking gondola of rotted wood.

The Ferryman (his friends called him Charon, but Bill kinda thought he was a fucker so he just called him the Ferryman) stood about seven feet tall, wearing dark robes that covered his whole body. The only exceptions were his skeletal hands, with fingers longer than a normal humans, and his eyes, which were two small orange embers that seemed to hang in midair in the darkness of his hood. It clutched a long oar that disappeared beneath the black water.

“Bill,” the Ferryman said with a nod. His voice was like a coffin lid slamming shut.

“Ferryman,” Bill said.

“Supply closet?”

Bill nodded his head.

The Ferryman rolled his orange eyes.

“ _Of course_ ,” he said. “You know the price.”

Bill reached in his pocket and threw over both coins. “Round trip,” he said.

The Ferryman caught both coins in the air. His boney fingers curled over the coins like snakes. His eyes lingered on them for a moment, then nodded.

“This will do for now,” the Ferryman said. “Hop aboard.”

Bill stepped on. The Ferryman pushed off with his oar and started stroking slowly as the boat pushed along the river.

Bill looked in the river. The water was black. Occasionally in the darkness, he saw shapes shifting deep within.

The Ferryman must have noticed.

“Good time of the year for swimming, if you want a dip,” he said.

Bill glared at the Ferryman. Despite being cloaked in darkness, Bill could see a wide smile displaying yellowed teeth, like a Cheshire Cat.

“Anyone ever fall for that?” Bill asked.

“Occasionally. But then, I only ask pricks to do that.”

Bill turned away, looking down the river. The Ferryman just laughed.

“That’s your problem, Bill,” he said. “Can’t take a joke. I miss when Alice worked here. She was a better talker.”

Bill nodded.

“Alice was a good worker,” Bill said. He meant it. He was disappointed (albeit more than a little annoyed) when she stopped showing up.

“It’s fine,” the Ferryman said, stroking the oar. “She’s doing witch work at a pharmacy or something now.”

Bill raised an eyebrow.

“How the hell did you know that?” Bill said.

“Cause I care enough to ask around.” The Ferryman’s orange eyes flicked to Bill’s. “You’d know too ... had you actually looked into it.”

Bill frowned and gave him a dirty look ... but he said nothing.

“She actually hooked my cousin Horkos up with a gig,” the Ferryman continued. “Guess she cursed an oathbreaker or something. Poor bastard.”

Bill shook his head.

“Alice doesn’t curse people, come on.”

The Ferryman shook his head.

“How would you know? Did you ever even talk to her about something other than work?”

Bill didn’t answer, he just avoided his gaze. The Ferryman gave a low chuckle.

“And see, it’s that attitude -- _that’s_ the reason you’re going to die alone.”

Bill waved his hand. “More dumb jokes.”

“No,” the Ferryman said seriously. “I can see these things. You’re going to have a heart attack. No one else will be around to call an ambulance. And you slip away. _Alone_.”

Bill’s face turned a shade paler.

Then the Ferryman threw his head back, laughing harder.

“Oh _man_ , you really can’t take a joke. You should see the look on your face.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Bill said in a low voice.

“No time to. We’re here.”

Bill looked up. They were at another rocky shore, this one leading to non-descript door marked “Phone-E Employee’s Only.”

The Ferryman waved to the shore.

“Be quick about it,” he said.

Bill didn’t bother with pleasantries as he stepped off the boat. He strode over to the door and opened it.

It opened to shelves and shelves of normal items (spare paper, coffee filters, pens, and of course coffee.) There were also jars of glowing shapeless things that Bill hadn’t a clue what they did, but that wasn’t his problem. He took a bag of Medium Roast then, remembering, took a bag of French Vanilla as well, along with a jar of coffee creamer. He clutched it all under one arm and walked back out.

“You know,” the Ferryman said as Bill approached, “you could just keep this stuff up there.”

“I want to, but the Spider says he needs the space for ... whatever, I dunno.”

“Heh. Sounds like him.” The Ferryman raised his head as Bill moved to step on the boat. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“What?”

The Ferryman held out his hand.

“That’ll be two more coins,” he said.

Bill’s monotone broke as he raised his voice.

“ _What_?!” he said. “Last time when I only had one coin, you told me it was two. _I gave you two_.”

“That’s the _old_ price.” Again, that yellowed smile flashed in the darkness. “Did I forget to make that clear? Sorry about that.”

“You _dick_.”

“Well?”

Bill sighed. He kinda figured the Ferryman would be a jerk in some way (it had happened before), but he didn’t have anymore obols. He pulled out his wallet.

The Ferryman shook his head right away.

“Put your paper Monopoly money away, I don’t accept it,” he said.

“I’ve got a Visa card ...” Bill mumbled as he poked through it.

“ _Your_ credit isn’t good here either.”

“Well, then I don’t have anything.”

The Ferryman nodded.

“Well. Bye.” He pushed off the shore with his oar and the boat started to drift away.

Bill actually clenched his fists.

“What, you’re just gonna leave me stranded here again?!” Bill said.

“Yeah!” he shouted.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

“ _Eat ittttt_ ...” the Ferryman yelled as the boat drifted further away, quicker than any part of the trip there. In a few moments, he was just a speck in the distance.

Bill’s jaw clenched. He sighed. This wasn’t entirely unexpected. The Ferryman loved to pull crap like this on him, but his boat was somehow the fastest way to get here. Luckily, Bill had come prepared.

He pulled his phone out. He flipped to the Occult Apps. Black miasma started to waft out the corners of the screen in response. He selected the Ridealong app.

... then had to wait because there was an update. Figured. Bill tapped his foot as he waited for the update bar to fill ...

A moment later, it was done. He opened it up ...

... he had to approve the Terms and Conditions again.

“God dammit,” Bill muttered. He opened the Terms and Conditions.

A dark, otherworldly voice erupted from his phone, despite being on silent.

**“BY ACCEPTING THESE TERMS, KNOW THAT THOU DEVICE ART CURSED AND THAT YOUR VERY BEING EXISTS TO SERVICE _US_ , FOR--”**

“Yeah, yeah.” Bill hit agree.

**“THANK YOU. PLEASE RATE THIS APP FIVE STARS IN THE OCCULT APP STORE.”**

“ _Whatever_! Jesus ...”

The app itself finally opened. It showed the GPS map with Bill’s current location, which appeared to be a black void. Fortunately, he still had ride options in this area.

The nearest Rideshare option listed the price as simply the word “GOLD”. Bill exhaled. Okay, good. That meant his go-to ride for this situation was still around. Bill was worried he’d be in an area where the only payment options were “YOUR SOUL” or something.

Bill selected that Ride and hit Okay.

Not even two seconds later, a wall of rock nearby exploded into craggly rocks and pebbles as the dragon crashed through.

The dragon was massive, ten or eleven feet tall on all fours, with black scales that were chipped slightly with ancient age. It’s wings were almost as long as the rest of him, flappy yet long and thick like parachutes. It stared at Bill with white eyes that bore no pupils.

The phone spoke again.

“ **YOUR RIDE HAS ARRIVED**.”

Bill put the phone away, then pulled the gold-plated necklace from his pocket.

“Okay, you get this when we get out, okay?” Bill said.

The dragon narrowed its eyes. It sniffed, almost dismissively.

Bill felt his heart sink.

“Gold-plated is good enough right?” Bill said.

The dragon wiggled its head, then, almost reluctantly, nodded. It jerked its head towards its back.

Bill jumped onto its side, nearly tumbling off. The dragon grunted in disappointment. It curled its long tail, which pushed Bill upwards onto its back. Bill held onto the scales, the coffee and creamer still tucked under one arm to secure it.

“Thanks,” Bill said.

The dragon just sniffed. It shuffled into position, stared ahead down the massive river. It let out a mighty roar with such force that Bill felt the Underworld shake. It flapped its wings. Bill could feel a massive gale-force gust behind them as the dragon rocketed ahead, skimming over the black water.

Bill gripped the scales for dear life as they blasted through the Underworld. He felt like he was on a missile more than a living being. He clutched harder and closed his eyes.

More flaps, more speed, for what seemed like forever.

Bill wasn’t sure why, but the Ferryman’s stupid boat was much faster than riding a dragon in the Underworld, despite seemingly going faster. It was probably another side effect of time and space being weird down here. He clutched harder, his stomach tying into knots. He felt like he was on the mother of all rollercoasters, which would have been great if Bill wasn’t terrified of rollercoasters.

He finally squinted his eyes open, and saw the Ferryman’s boat dead ahead. Bill’s fear subsided for just a moment.

“HEY!” Bill yelled over the gusts of air. “SLOW DOWN FOR A MINUTE.”

The dragon grunted, but did as Bill asked and slowed down ... slightly.

They rode up next to the Ferryman.

“HEY, FERRYMAN!” Bill shouted.

The Ferryman flicked his orange eyes to Bill.

Bill raised one hand from the scales and held up his middle finger.

“GO!” he said to the dragon.

The dragon flapped its wings, rocking the Ferryman’s boat to Bill’s delight. Bill laughed, even as he felt bugs hit his face.

Minutes later, they reached the steps up to the phone store. The dragon flapped once in reverse, slowing down so fast Bill almost felt himself get jerked off, before it skidded its claws against the rocks to a stop.

“Phew ...” Bill said, shaking his head. He felt his hair, which was messy from the ride. He slid down the side of the dragon. “Thanks a lot.”

The dragon nodded, then extended its tail in front of Bill. Bill looked up at the dragon. It lowered its head and gave him a look, as if waiting for something.

“Oh right ... of course ...” He pulled the gold-plated necklace from his pocket and placed it around the dragon’s tail.

The tail curled, securing the necklace in place. The dragon nodded once.

“I’ll uh ... I’ll try to get something better next time,” Bill said.

The dragon nodded more emphatically. It turned around. Knowing what was coming, Bill backed away, but even so he nearly fell over as the dragon flapped its wings to take off and disappeared down the river.

Bill shook his head. He touched the bags of coffee and creamer underneath his arm. Then he looked up the long, stone steps upwards, the walk he still had ahead of him.

He wondered briefly if all this was worth it. Then he yawned and he realized, yes, yes it was.

He looked up, sighed, then started up the steps.

* * *

“Here,” Bill said, tossing the bag of French Vanilla coffee and jar of creamer to the Spider as he walked in through the Employee’s Only door. “That all _better_ not count as my break today.”

The Spider chittered in a high-pitched tone, sounding pleased. It swept the items in front of its maw then, without preamble, began to tear into the bag of coffee and jar, packaging and all.

Bill let out a small chuckle.

“Heh heh ... gross,” he said.

Bill went over to the coffee maker to make his coffee. He pulled down a coffee filter and began to fill it.

Out front, he heard a customer yell, “Excuse me? Is anyone here?”

Bill angrily put the bag of coffee down, stared at the ceiling, and clenched his fists.

“ _Just a moment_ ,” he shouted out as nice as he could manage.

Bill walked up to the front counter, bemoaning how boring this job could be sometimes. 


	6. [Not an Update] "Slice of Monster Life" has been rebooted as a web serial called "Retail Monsters"

[Hey guys! I usually don't do these but this seemed appropriate to let those interested know what's happening. "Slice of Monster Life" (which is now called Retail Monsters) has been rebooted as an original web serial which I will be updating weekly that you can find [here](https://retailmonsters.wordpress.com/). It has a lot of similarities to this but tweaked and expanded upon (the chapter with Bill and the Ferryman is the only mostly-intact transplant that will occur in this story, which will end up being chapter two).

If you guys enjoyed this prototype version of that story, I think you'll really enjoy Retail Monsters since its a much more structured version of this. If it seems like you're think and you're interested, [check it out](https://retailmonsters.wordpress.com/).]


End file.
